


Let Love Lead the Way

by mvicki5eva



Category: Spice Girls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-29
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-09-29 12:53:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20436350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mvicki5eva/pseuds/mvicki5eva





	1. Chapter 1

Every time Christian touched her, whether it be a gentle brush of his hand against hers or loving squeeze of the shoulder, Mel felt her heart sink further and further. On the exterior, her calm and seemingly nonplussed demeanour gave nothing away to the inner turmoil that was eating away at her inside.

They’d done the tour, and done it without any near-misses, any accidents; and Mel was happy about that, truly- at the time. Now it played on her mind incessantly. Why hadn’t Geri tried anything? Had she lost her attractiveness? Was Geri finally fully over her? The last thought was what plagued her the most. Over the many years of their friendship, despite their breakup in the early days, Mel knew she could always count on what she thought was their everlasting attraction. To her, it had been as though they were just playing a cat and mouse game, dating numerous other people but ultimately always ending up in each other’s arms at some point during the year before going off again to another whirlwind romance. It didn’t matter how many men she dated, Mel always felt comfortable in the security that Geri, her Geri would always come back to her. 

“Right then,” Christian declared “I think we’d better be heading off. I’ve got to be up early tomorrow for my flight to Baku.”

“But Geri doesn’t.” Mel retorted, speaking before she could think properly. All eyes at the table to turned to rest on her. Wide, inquisitive and excited- people had expected there to be some kind of show down tonight. At any Spice Girls event there always was. The only eyes at the table that looked far less than enthused were those of Melanie and Emma. They both caught one another’s eyes across the table, and a common understanding settled unspoken between them. They needed to diffuse the situation before it became a situation.

“Let me go and grab your coats from the cloakroom!” Emma eagerly chirped, standing up from the table and tapping Mel on the arm. “Why don’t you come and help me love, and then we can bring out dessert afterwards as well!”

“Well that’s just it isn’t it!” Mel exclaimed, “we haven’t even had dessert and yet Christian is in such a rush to leave.”

“As I explained, Mel, I’ve got an early flight to catch to Baku tomorrow morning. Really got to get a good sleep tonight.” Christian said, with Mel noting the subtle hint of irritation that had begun to colour his tone. 

‘Good’ She thought. ‘It’s working’

“A good nights sleep?” Mel chortled. “I never got one of those when I was with Geri. I’ll tell you, she’s the only other human I’ve met who’s sex drive can rival my own!” 

At that Geri finally reacted. She put down her cutlery rather forcefully and turned to pointedly stare at Mel. ‘Enough.’ her expression read, but Mel wasn’t having any of it. Yes, she could feel she was a bit under the influence with alcohol but that wasn’t the reason she was acting out. She was acting out because she needed to goad some sort of reaction out of Geri whether it be positive or negative: she just needed something from her. Anything was better than this cold shoulder, this painfully slow and gradual icing out. By the end of the tour Mel felt she and Geri had truly reconnected after so long. Behind the scenes, away from the stage, Geri has finally dropped this strange and new persona she’d taken on since meeting Christian and was instead unashamedly herself. That crazy nut job girl from Watford. The girl Mel had fallen in love with, and, if she was being really honest with herself- had never fallen out of love with. But there was no way in hell that Mel was ever going to admit that- not even to herself. 

All it had taken was for the tour to be over for a week and Geri had settled right back into her new self- no doubt encouraged by Christian. This angered Mel like nothing else. Here she was thinking she’d just got her Geri back and in came Mr Horner changing and reverting everything for the worse. All Mel wanted to do was go up to Geri and scream at her to go back to normal and to forget Christian. And for that reason she saw tonight, Emma’s post tour dinner for all the crew and family, as her perfect opportunity to do just that. 

“Do you know something Mel? I really don’t appreciate you talking about my wife in that way, especially not at the dinner table in front of all these guests. It’s hardly appropriate.’ Christian said, impatiently standing up from the table. “Geri, lets go and get our coats.”

“No no, we’ll go and get them!” Emma insisted, tugging at Mel’s shoulder in attempt to hurry her along. “We won’t be a minute.” 

“Well I don’t see why I should be waiting on Christian hand and foot, he’s not the one I used to be with so why should I have any respect for-

“Melanie!” Geri hissed, finally having enough of Mel’s antics for one evening. “Cloakroom. Now.”

Without saying a word more Geri rose from the table and directed Mel to the door of the dining room. Mel obediently followed, not forgetting to smirk at Christian before she left.  
She was getting to spend time alone with his wife. ‘In your face’ she thought. Emma turned to look at Melanie, both ladies unsure of whether to follow their two friends and prevent the inevitable bust up from happening or simply stay put and let them expend their anger. Melanie’s slight nod of the head made the decision for them. They would follow. Ignoring all the furious and excitable murmurs in the room, Emma and Melanie exited, scurrying after their glowering friends.  
——  
“God, I always forget how bloody big your house is!” Melanie scoffed as she and Emma raced around, trying to figure out where Geri and Mel had ended up. “How many cloakrooms do you have?”

“Oh just shut up Melanie! We need to find the girls. I think I put Geri and Christian’s coats in this one.” Emma walked up to a white door built in under the main staircase, which sure enough was slightly ajar- not enough that Melanie and Emma could see anything but enough that they could hear the shrill shrieks of Geri scolding Mel.

“What the hell do you think you’re playing at?” they heard Geri screech at Mel. Melanie gestured at Emma for her to go in, prepared to diffuse the time bomb that was ticking inside the cloakroom but Emma swatted her hand away. 

“Let’s not go in just yet.” She whispered. “Let’s just listen for now.” 

Melanie rolled her eyes at her bandmate, always one for gossip. 

Inside the cloakroom, Mel had seated herself on a stool lying fallow in the corner whilst Geri towered over her, towering as much as she could anyway with her petite stature. Mel knew Geri was trying her best to seem angry and ominous but it had no effect on her. If anything she got even more turned on when Geri was angry at her- there was just something so sexy about the way she did it. 

“Geri you need to relax.” Mel scoffed, fondling the sleeve of a jacket nearby absentmindedly. “It was just a harmless joke. What? Are you scared Christian’s gonna be offended when he learns I’ve had way more action from you than he ever will?” 

“Oh shut up Melanie! Why are you always so goddamn proud of yourself- it’s annoying. No one likes an egotistical bitch, you know?”

“Wow. So you do remember how to swear! Nice. For a second you had me thinking you’d forgotten how to! Well thank fuck for that, eh?”

Exasperated, Geri turned around shaking her head. Trying to reason with Mel, especially when she’d had a bit to drink, was like trying to reason with Monty but worse. She decided to change her approach. She knew that with Melanie, whatever you saw on the surface was usually disconnected to what was really bothering her inside. Geri knee Mel couldn’t have actually been that bothered that she and Christian were leaving the dinner party early- no, there was something else going on.

“Okay Melanie.” Geri sighed, turning back to her and trying her best to put a patient face on. “Tell me what’s really going on. Why are you lashing out at me?”

“I’m not.” Mel shrugged, looking down at the floor. “I just think it’s rather rude of you to leave early when we haven’t even had dessert! You did the same thing during the tour, always leaving early from everything like the grandma you are.”

“Melanie.” with a gentle but insistent tug of her chin, Geri brought Mel’s face up to look at her. Mel couldn’t recognise or understand the expression on Geri’s face. It seemed mixed between pity and and irritation. “Talk to me. Please? I just want to understand-

“Understand? UNDERSTAND? Understand this! Ive come back to the UK after the ten shittiest years of my entire life, ready to put the past behind me and move on! I come back wanting to be surrounded by my family and friends, expecting everything to just fall into place and it has! With absolutely everyone but you. You! The person who is supposed to be my best friend in this world, my soulmate. I come back and everything’s changed about you, e-e-everything! You c-ca-can’t t-t-ell me that you h-haven’t changed because you have!” 

Such was her infuriation, such was her frustration and such was her confusion that Mel began to stutter, feeling totally out of control and emotional. Tears began to wet her face as her voice rose while speaking, each word crescendoing in volume matching her rising emotions. 

At this, Geri hurriedly knelt down in front of the girl and took her face in her hands. She detested seeing Melanie cry and she knew that if she was stuttering, she was seriously upset.

“Look at me Melanie, look at me! Stop crying, please you’re going to make cry!” Geri exclaimed wiping away Mel’s tears with her thumbs. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you like how you wanted me to be. But Melanie, you said it yourself, you came back expecting everything to be the same but think about it- it can’t be! I can’t be the same person you knew, that was so long ago. Yes I know I’m different, but this is me now-

“This isn’t you.” Mel said gruffly, trying to hide the pain in her voice. She felt helpless, completely undone. Why couldn’t she get through to Geri? What would it take to make her understand that she was breaking her heart all over again, just like she did 21 years ago.

Geri’s heart softened at seeing Mel so vulnerable before her. It had been a long time since they’d shared a moment like this. Yes, over the years since she left they had reconnected and become close again but never on the same level that they were during the Spice Girls. Yes, they had slept together time and time again over the years but it was different than before, there was no emotional attachment this time, just more of a nostalgic longing. But right here, in this moment in the cloakroom, Geri’s heart abruptly swelled with love and affection for her girl, feelings she had forced herself to shut away for a long, long time. 

Without thinking, Geri brought Mel’s face closer to hers and softly pressed her lips onto hers. She waited a second or two to see if she would get a response. If she didn’t, she would pull away and try her best to pretend it had happened. But sure enough she felt the pressure of Mel’s lips against hers and slowly, their lips began to move together.


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you think is happening?” Emma questioned Melanie, her eyes going wide with curiosity at the abrupt silence that came from the cloakroom. Not a minute before they had heard Mel raising her voice.

“The obvious.” Melanie remarked, rolling her eyes for what felt like the twentieth time that evening. She just knew something like this was going to happen. Something always did when it came to Geri and Mel, whether good or bad. To her, it was the most toxic form of friendship- if a friendship was even what it was. 

Whilst Emma continued to eavesdrop on their friends, Melanie detached herself from the present and allowed her mind to take her back to 1996, all those years ago when they all shacked up together in Maidenhead. 

——  
“GIIIIRLSS, HELLOOOO!” Melanie bellowed in a funny voice as she clicked the front door shut behind her. Placing her set of keys on the hook on the wall, she slouched off her rucksack in the hallway and padded over to the living room. Empty. Victoria wasn’t going to be back for a few days still and Emma had phoned her about an hour ago to say she was only rocking up in the evening since she wanted to spend more time with her family. But Melanie thought that at least Geri and Mel would be in. After all it was Sunday morning and Melanie didn’t even have to question whether they had gone clubbing the night before or not. 

‘They’re probably still sleeping’ Melanie thought to herself, crossing the carpet to check the cupboard in the kitchen and see if there were any biscuits left. Result! Grabbing a Rich Tea biscuit and placing it in her mouth, Melanie decided to make a quick brew to melt away the cold that had gathered inside her from her journey back to Maidenhead. The weather this winter had been particularly fierce and unforgiving. 

Whilst the kettle began to boil, Melanie decided to go upstairs and find her pals, checking Geri’s room first. Empty. Weird? ‘There’s no way they were already out of the house at this time. 11am is an ungodly hour for them . Maybe they’re not even back from the club yet.’ Melanie chuckled to herself, crossing the landing to her and Mel’s room. 

Opening the door slowly so as not to make a noise and wake up Mel, in case she was in fact in there, Melanie poked her head around the door. Mel and Geri were in fact awake but so engrossed were they, in one another, that they hadn’t noticed that the door had been opened a crack. The first thing Melanie noticed were clothes scattered about on the floor- but that wasn’t unusual, their bedroom was always the messiest. What was unusual to Melanie, however, was the close proximity of Mel and Geri’s faces. Melanie’s eyes narrowed, trying to figure out what was going on. 

Then the penny dropped.

They were kissing.

Hurriedly but quietly Melanie closed the door and turned around, back against it. Repeatedly blinking, the image of Mel and Geri making out played over and over in her mind. Melanie was beyond confused. Yes she’d seen them kiss before, all the girls had- it was just a silly thing they did for fun sometimes and it meant absolutely nothing. But that wasn’t how it seemed just then. It was the way they were holding each other, Geri’s hand clutching Mel’s hair and not to mention the fact that Geri was only in her bra. That didn’t seem silly or meaningless. Besides, every time the rest of the girls did it they’d always had a bit to drink, they were always a bit tipsy and happy off the buzz of the alcohol. It was 11am. There was no way the girls were drunk. None of them had ever kissed sober before. 

“Let’s have another round quickly.” Melanie heard Mel’s voice from inside the room. Pressing her ear to the door she waited to hear more. “Just one before the others get back.”

“Melanie, no. It’s already 11, Melanie and Emma will be back soon and besides- I’m already worn out-

“Already? We’ve only been at it for an hour!” Melanie exclaimed, outraged. “That’s hardly any time and besides...I’m not satisfied yet!”

“Well then you can satisfy yourself, I know you’ll have no trouble with that,” Melanie could hear the bed creak as Geri got off it chuckling. She then heard the sound of grunting and struggling and from what she could guess Mel was probably trying to pull Geri back onto the bed.

“C’mon Geri just a bit longer! You know once Melanie is back we can’t have sex again until at least the weekend-

Melanie’s eyes enlarged once again and she felt her heartbeat quicken. SEX? Mel and Geri had started having sex with each other? Since when? And why? Melanie knew that Mel had a certain affinity for girls and had slept with them before but she never thought Mel was attracted to anyone in the house. As for Geri? Melanie never thought she had been interested in girls in that way.

“Okay Brown, once more. But I swear if I don’t have the most mind blowing orgasm this time-

Embarrassed and still shell shocked Melanie speedily came away from the door and made her way down the stairs, careful to avoid that one step that always creaked. She couldn’t let them know she’d heard or seen anything. They would be sure to kill her and she would do anything to avoid the awkwardness of that conversation. No, it was best to leave Geri and Mel to whatever it is they were up to. It always was.

——  
Melanie had the same sentiment now as the sounds she could hear from inside the cloakroom informed her that Mel and Geri were probably at it in the same way they were on the bed all those years ago. She felt uncomfortable listening in on their private moment. Far more uncomfortable then she did then in Maidenhead, because at least then both the girls were single. Now Geri was married and both women had kids- there really was no excuse. 

“Come on Emma,” Melanie said taking her blonde friend by the arm. “Let’s leave them to it. At least they’re not arguing, eh?”

“It’s wrong though! I think we should stop them! Christian could come out of the dining room at any moment and see-

“See what?” At the deep and posh tone that seemed to boom behind them, Melanie and Emma both swivelled their heads around in shock. Standing there was the last man they both wanted to see, with his hands in his pocket and a skeptical look on his face. Christian. “Where’s Geri?”


	3. Chapter 3

Feeling her lips move so comfortably, so naturally with her own Mel smiled, filled with an indescribable sense of contentment.  
So there was still something between them. She hadn’t been kidding herself all these years, the attraction was still there. 

Breaking the kiss Mel stood up, pulling Geri up with her. Firmly but not too roughly she pushed Geri onto the wall of the cloakroom, resuming kissing her as she did so. Geri’s hands tangled within Mel’s hair whilst Mel’s hands rested on her waist. As the seconds passed the kiss grew more intense, tongues roughly interacting and lips drawing over each other raggedly. The desire that had been building up in both of them since starting tour promo the previous year had been kept at bay during the tour and now it had been released abruptly, allowed to roam free and wild. 

Mel gently nipped Geri’s bottom lip, her hands moving from her waist to her backside, squeezing and pulling her in. Her frantic actions and roaming hands betrayed her arousal, revealing that she wanted this to go further than just kissing. This didn’t go unnoticed by Geri who, although her attraction to Mel was still paramount as it had always been, was still very aware that they were in fact in the cloakroom of Emma’s house. 

“Mel, Melanie wait- stop.” Geri tried to speak between the kisses Mel was still planting on her. 

“Why?” Melanie groaned frustratedly, swooping in again for another kiss. Geri had to literally place her hand over her mouth to prevent it from happening. “What’s wrong with this?”

“Many things!” Geri cried, feeling a sense of outrage once again. “I’m bloody married for a start!”

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid’ was all she could think to herself. How could she have let it progressed even this far again? She was married to Christian. Committed to Christian. She did love him, no matter what her feelings for Mel were, she did feel some sort of love towards Christian. But what niggled her was knowing that her love for Christian could never come close to the feelings she had for Mel. They ran deep and unbridled and most of all they scared her. 

At the height of her love for Mel in the 90s, Geri would have been prepared to do practically anything for her- and that was a vulnerable position to be in. Mel had trodden all over her feelings back then, leaving her so broken she had no clue how she was to piece herself back together again. And in truth- she never really had. Christian had managed to piece some bits back together but not completely. It was only here, in this moment with Mel that Geri felt complete again and she hated it. She hated being at the mercy of Mel’s whims and fancies, because as far as Geri was concerned what she was perceiving on Mel’s end was not love but merely fleeting sexual attraction- and she hated giving into that. She hated feeling used. But for some inexplicable reason: Geri just couldn’t help herself.

All this was running through Geri’s mind as she stared at Mel, when the door was abruptly burst open and standing there was Christian. 

His face was thunder, his hands curled into tight fists. 

“What the HELL is going on here?” Christian hissed, his voice barely above a whisper highlighting his brewing anger. He could see Mel had Geri cornered and he could see her hands on his wife’s waist. “Why are you so bloody close to my wife?”

Mel could see Emma and Melanie coming in close after Christian, with guilty countenances. Mel’s anger easily matched and possibly surpassed that of Christian’s. Not only had the one moment she’d been waiting for with Geri finally come and then been interrupted almost as soon as it had started, but to discover that two of their bandmates were outside whilst it was going on? No doubt eavesdropping? She was incensed.

But she couldn’t react in anger. She knew she was in the wrong. Geri was married. She was Christian’s wife and whilst Mel’s previous marriage had had an open nature, that wasn’t to say the same went for Christian and Geri. Besides, the words Geri had just said, although not vindictive, had indeed stung her. There were ‘many things’ wrong with this.

“We were just talking.” Mel said simply, trying not to reveal anything in her tone of voice. “Then we started arguing-

“And then you fell on top of each other’s mouths in anger?” Christian sneered, throwing his hands in the air in disbelief.

“What are you talking about?” Mel said stubbornly, crossing her arms. “We weren’t kissing, you idiot, we are arguing! I just got a bit angry and the argument got a bit heated so that’s why I was so close to Geri- 

“Mel,” Geri started before Christian put his hand out as if to silence her. Turning back to Geri to find out what she had wanted to say, Mel was suddenly filled with panic. Smeared all over Geri’s mouth were traces of Mel’s deep berry lipstick, betraying the events that had just taken place. That was what Christian had seen, that’s what had given him the courage to directly accuse them of kissing. 

Mel didn’t know what to do now. She had no counter argument. She could no longer lie, the evidence was right there streaked across Geri’s face. 

“I don’t even have the patience or time to deal with you this evening, Melanie.” Christian sighed, spotting his and Geri’s coats right next to him on hangers. Gathering them together in his arms he continued. “All I can say is I’m hardly surprised. You have absolutely no class! Trying to add my wife to the list of other men’s wives that you’ve slept with. You think I don’t know about the others?” 

Mel began to open her mouth in protest.

“Save it. You can’t defend your filthy way of life- everyone knows what you’re like when it comes to sex.” Christian scoffed. “All I can tell you is Geri isn’t interested in becoming ensnared in your sordid sex web. She’s with me and you aren’t going to come between us. Come on Geri, we’re leaving.” 

Mel began to feel tears prick at the edges of her eyes. She hadn’t felt so personally attacked in such a long time. Here she was in the midst of 3 of her best friends, her character being utterly sullied by a horrifically arrogant and insolent man and yet none of them said anything. No one came to her defence. It was Melanie Janine Brown all on her own, all over again. Misunderstood and disapproved of by everyone. Just like it had always been.

“Don’t worry- I’ll save you the effort.” Mel barely managed to get her words out past the knot that had formed in her throat. Tears beginning to drop down her face for the second time that evening, she glared back at Geri and then pushed past Christian, Melanie and Emma, leaving the room.


End file.
